Not everyone wants to do business with you. It may be hard to hear, but it’s true – not every type of person is interested in the product or service you provide. So why are you wasting your marketing budget trying to reach out to everyone? By finding your target market, i.e. people who actually want to buy your stuff, you can maximize your marketing dollars and generate more business.

Many businesses tend to follow the mantra: Bigger is better, but this is not the case when it comes to marketing. When you’re marketing to the whole population you have to tailor your message to fit just about everyone – which doesn’t always equal the most effective advertising. If you narrow down your target audience, you can have a little more fun with your tagline, spice things up and really focus on the people who will be buying stuff from you.

For instance, let’s say you’re selling fishing equipment. If you were marketing to the whole population, your message would probably have to be something very generic, such as “Catch more fish with our gear.” Not very interesting, right? If you were targeting specific niche audiences, you could write special advertising messages for freshwater fishing, saltwater fishing, fly fishing, etc. Your audience would know you actually knew what you were talking about, and would be more likely to buy from you.

By targeting your audience you aren’t wasting your marketing budget on tons of people who will never use your product or services. You’re actually advertising to people who want to hear about what you do. Targeting your audience matches your business with the ideal customer, so you can both find what you want and need, and hopefully establish a long-term business relationship.

Okay, so we’ve established that finding your target market is a good thing. Most likely you already know who your target market is, it’s the people who come into your store or visit your website every day; but how do you reach them?

The internet is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Since you’re most likely reading this online, you already know that. And you’ve probably already tried some online marketing. But you’ve probably also figured out that there is some tough competition out there. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has a website and they’re all competing to be number one. There are ways to get your website higher up in the search engine rankings for key terms specific to your business or product, however.

Once again, instead of focusing on the whole World Wide Web, 99.99% of which is not interested in your business, go local. A local business directory can help you reach targeted local online consumers looking for your specific services in your local area by listing your business under specific keywords.

With a local business directory you don’t have to spend all your marketing dollars to get good online exposure. Business directories are easy to use, and if you find a good one, it can often provide you with some sort of search engine optimization too! This helps more people find exactly what they’re looking for – you – when they search for your product in the search engines.

When looking for a business directory, look for one that is selective and limits its membership to a select number of businesses. In addition, a business directory that offers many different search categories will help consumers narrow down their search and find exactly what they need without looking through page upon page of thousands of different listings that may not even be relevant to what they’re looking for. Your company will be found easier, and more people will be likely to use the business directory because it will be easier for them to find things, this equals more business!

Start advertising to your target audience, and just your target audience, and start using your marketing dollars wisely. Use a local business directory today!

About the Author: http://www.TenList.com/ creates a win-win situation by connecting local businesses with local customers to provide a business directory with True Local Results for all. For a fraction of what other business directories charge, TenList can drive unlimited search engine traffic to your business.